Cutting machine



April 1951 J. s. IDELMAN- 2,549,202;

\1 INVENTOR. JEROME S. IDELMAN HIS ATTORNEY J. S. IDELMAN CUTTING MACHINE April 17, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 12, 1946 HIS ATTORNEY April 1 J. s. IDELMAN 2,549,202

CUTTING MACHINE Filed July 12, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR. JEROME S. IDELMAN HIS ATTORNEY J. S. IDELMAN CUTTING MACHINE April 17, 1951 Fileq July 12, 1946 4 R. 0N 1. MA m m S NI.- q IE 1 m m S S E m mw J HIS ATTORNEY April 1951 J. s. lDELMAN 2,549,202

CUTTING MACHINE Filed July 12, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 A 1 FIG. 6.

' INVENTOR. JEROME S. IDELMAN HIS ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 17, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 12 Claims.

This invention relates to cloth-cutting means. More particularly, it relates to cutting pieces of cloth and piling them, etc.

The cloth may be cut in various designs. For example, it may be cut in the form of a part of a coat, with a hole punched out for the attachment of the sleeve.

A skirt or the major portion thereof may be punched out with a single operation.

Various other garments or items, or portions thereof, may be cut in a single cutting operation.

The advantages will be at once apparent. Garments will be out faster than ever before.

According to the principle of my invention, I have provided a means for drawing cloth beneath a cutter, to cut a desired piece or pieces of cloth. The cloth may be .drawn from a roll or rolls, or stacked piles or other source.

The piece or pieces of cloth are then carried by a belt or conveyor, and are dropped upon another belt or conveyor, from which they are dropped on a pile.

The operations are all dovetailed. Another piece or pieces of cloth are cut by the time the first piece or pieces are carried to the end of the first conveyor, and the second conveyor has returned to a point where it is ready to pick up another piece or pieces of cloth, and repeat the rest of the operation.

Only those who are skilled in this line of business can appreciate the advance made by the present invention in cutting out garments or pieces of garments at a single operation or a single series of operations.

Another feature of my invention is the provision of table-moving means, for use in connection with the pieces of goods which are cut and dropped to form a pile on the table.

. By means of my invention, I have provided table means whereby the table always moves downwardly substantially the depth of a piece of cloth, so that after a piece has been dropped onto the pile, the table and its pile moves downwardly to accommodate another piece.

In short, the table and its pile are always in the proper place to receive another piece of goods deposited from a belt or conveyor.

Further objects and advantages will appear and be brought out more fully in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Fig. 3 is anend view.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal section, showing the mechanism of the machine.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged end section of the machine.

Figs. 6 to 9 show the sequence of operation.

Referring to the drawings in detail, in which I have shown the preferred form for the purpose of illustrating the principle of my invention, I have shown, in Fig. 2, a machine I0, having a base I I and standards I2, supporting a lower platform [3, and an upper platform I4.

The machine is provided with a guiding ledge [5, over which cloth from a roll, not shown, is adapted to be led to a well I6 and over a roller [1, the cloth being drawn in the direction of the arrow I8 in Fig. 6, by means of contact between the roller l1 and the knife I9.

The knife I9 may be secured to the support 20 by any suitable means such as riveting.

Secured to the support 20, is a roller support 2 l, in which is mounted rollers 22.

The roller supports 21 are cut away, as at 23, as shown in Fig. 2, for a purpose which will be more evident hereinafter.

Also pivotall secured to the roller support, is a connecting rod 24, which is also connected to a flywheel 25.

This flywheel is adapted to reciprocate the cutter just described.

The flywheel is driven itself by a belt 26, from a pulley 21, which is itself driven by a belt 28 from a pulley 29.

Pulley 29 is connected to a reducing gear 30, and a belt 3| is led from reduction gear to a pulley 32, to another pulley 33 leading to a source of power.

The pulley 21 is mounted on a shaft 34, and drives a belt 35 around a pulley 36 and pulleys 31 and 38, as will .be apparent from Fig. 2.

Also secured to the cutter support 2c is a rack 39, which is adapted to mesh with a gear 40, which, in turn, meshes with a second rack 4|.

This rack 4| is mounted on an intermediate 3 ledge. Then it is brought over the roller and is cut.

The blank is then dropped onthe belt 35 from whence it is dropped onto the belt 44. 7

It will be understood that the belts 35 and 44 are not necessarily just one belt, but may be, and in the drawings represent, a series of narrow belts which are interlaced with each other.

The belt 44 is adapted to deposit the cloth in a pile 48.

In the machine of my invention, the belt 44 rotates only on the travel to the left, as shown in the drawings in Figs. 6 and 7, and the purpose of this is that it is desired to take the cloth away from the belt 35, as shown specially in Figs. 6 and 7. 7

As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, there is no need for the belt 44 to rotate in either direction when it moves to the right as it carries a cut piece of cloth, and so the belt does not rotate when the belt reaches the left-most travel, looking at Fig. 8, and does not travel over the rollers 33 and 45 until the belt 44 reaches the limit of its travel to the right, when there begins to be need of it.

This operation i accomplished in this manner: Another rack 49 is secured to the frame, and is adapted to mesh with a gear 50.

When the platform 42 moves to the right, looking at Fig. 4, the rack 49 will rotate the gear 50, and thereby rotate the pulley 45. However, when the belt 44 is travelling to the right, looking at Figs. 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9, the power is not transmitted to the pulley 45, because the gear 50 is connected to a one-way clutch The roller H is adapted to maintain constant pressure on the cloth against the knife l9, when it is desired to cut and pull the cloth, to-wit: when the cloth is moving forward and through the machine. However, after the cutting operation is finished, it is no longer desired to maintain contact between the roller, the knife and the cloth, since it is desired that the cloth should remain at the point where it has been out on the-roller, so that it is in its proper place when the cutting and pulling operation resumes to out another blank.

The alternating passage forward of the cloth is made possible by the fact that the roller is alternately dropped down away from the pressure with the cloth and knife and alternately brought up back into pressure with'the cloth and the knife.

The shaft 34 is provided with a cam 52, which is adapted to intermittently raise a roller 53 on one end of a bell crank lever 54, having a leg 55 and a leg 56.

The leg 56 is apertured to receive the axle 51 of the roller IT.

Also mounted on the axle 51, is a stud 58, the other end of which stud is secured in a bracket 59.

A. coil spring 60 is mounted on the stud.

In the operation, the cam raises the roller 53, which lowers the leg 56, which forces the axle of the roller I'l downwardly and thus the roller itself away from contact with the cloth and the cutter.

When the cutter l9 has reached the extreme right limit of travel, as shown in Fig. 8,-the cam or'raised portion will have passed by the roller 53, and the arm 55 will be lowered against the tension of the spring Bil, and the roller l! and its axle will also be lowered until the cutterreaches the left limit of its travel, as. shown in Figs. 6 to 9.

Then the lower portion of the cam will come in contact with the roller 53, and the roller will move in the direction of the cam, resulting in the arm 55 being raised by the spring, together with the axle 57 and the roller ll. 7

The result is that the roller I1 is once more in pressure contact with the cloth and the knife or cutter.

Secured to the periphery of the fly wheel 25, is a finger 5!, which is adapted to turn a gear 52 at the rate of one tooth per revolution of the flywheel, although equivalent arrangement could be made.

The. turning of the gear 62 is adapted to turn a threaded rod 63, which is in mesh with a threaded end 54 of a solenoid extension.

As the gear 62 revolves and the threaded rod also revolves, the solenoid extension is adapted to be revolved and lowered, and with it the table 55; and so, as the blank cloths are dropped onto the table,as shown in Fig. 6, the table is lowered, as shown in Fig. 3.

After the table is loaded as much as desired, and it is desired to raise the table again, thena switch 56, to operatev a solenoid 61, to withdraw the extension 68 from contact with the threadedv sidewise motion of the knife support 28 and the intermediate platform 42, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

I have also. provided an idle roller II, to keep the pressure between the cutter and the cloth and the roller I]. This may be mounted on a suitable shaft 12 and bearings 13.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, thisris capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wishto be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variation and-modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by- Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine for cutting pieces of a desired shape from a continuous strip of cloth, a knife having a shape corresponding to that of the piece to be cut and including a portion that extends generally longitudinally of the strip and another portion extending transversely thereof, said knife being mounted for reciprocal translational movement, longitudinally of said strip, a pressure roller mounted opposite to said knife with the strip of cloth passing between said knife and rol ,v amovable. mount ng f r. said roller.

2. In a machine for cuttingpieces of a desired shape from a,centinuous strip of cloth, a frame, a knife support rhoun'tedf'or reciprocation in said frame in a direction corresponding the lon i- 3&49393 tudinal extent of said strip, a knife carried by said support and having a shapecorr'esponding to that of a piece to be out, said knife including aportion extending longitudinally of; said strip and a portion extending transversely thereof, a pressure roller movably'mounted in said frame opposite to said knife andarranged with the strip of cloth passing b'etweens'aid knife and roller, means for reciprocating said knifsupport, means for moving said roller toward arid away from said knife, and mechanismior coodinating the operations of both of said last named means. 1 f i f '3. In a machine for cutting pieces of a desired shape from a continuous strip of cloth, a frame, a knife support mounted for reciprocation in said frame in a direction corresponding to the longitudinal extent of said strip, a knife carried by said support and having a shape corresponding to that of a piece to be out, said knife including a portion extending longitudinally of said strip and a portion extending transversely thereof, a pressure roller movably mounted in said frame opposite to said knife with the strip of cloth passing between said roller and said knife, spring means normally biasing said roller against said knife, means for retracting said roller' against the influence of said sprin means, means for reciprocating said knife support, and mechanism for coordinating reciprocation of said knife support with movement of said roller toward and away from said knife. r

4. In a machine for cutting pieces of a desired shape from a continuous. strip of; cloth, a

frame, a knifesupport mounted for reciprocation L in said frame in a direction corresponding to the longitudinal extent of said strip, a knife carried y said support and having a shape corresponding to that of a piece to be out, said knife including a portion extending. longitudinally of said strip and a portion extending transversely thereof, a bell crank having two, arms pivotally mounted on said frame beneath said knife, a pressure roller mounted on one arm of said bell crank, spring means associated with said arm carrying the pressure roller normally biasing said pressure roller toward said knife, actuating means operatively associated with the other arm of said bell crank for causing movement thereof to move said roller away from said. knife against the influence of said spring means, a flywheel pivotally mounted on said frame, a connecting rod operatively connecting said flywheel to said knife support, a power source, and driving connections between said power source andsaid flywheel and actuating means, said driving connections being effective to coordinate reciprocation of said knife support with movement of said roller toward and away from said knife.

5. In a machine for cutting pieces of cloth from a continuous strip, a frame, a knife mounted for reciprocal translational movement of said frame in a direction corresponding to the longisaid, second conveyor over said rollers upon translational movement of said conveyor and rollers in one direction only.

6. In a machine for cutting pieces of cloth from a continuous strip, a frame, a knife mounted for reciprocal translational movement.

in said frame in a direction corresponding to the longitudinal extent of said strip, said knife, having ajshape corresponding to that of the pieces to, be cut, a pressure roller movably mounted in said frame opposite to said knife with the strip of cloth, passing between said knife and said roller, an endless conveyor comprising a plurality of belts which are spaced apart and which together provide a composite upper ply adapted to receive a cut piece, means for driving said conveyor as an incident to cuttin movement of said knife, a platform reciprocally mounted in said frame in a position substantially parallel to said knife, operating connections between said platform and said knife whereby movement of said knife causes movement of said platform, a pair of rollers mounted in spaced relation on said platform, a second conveyor carried by said rollers and comprising a plurality of spaced belts that are interposed between the belts of said first conveyor, the belts of said second conveyor providing a composite upper ply that receives pieces from said first conveyor, rack and gear means for causing travel of said second conveyor over said rollersupon movement of said platform in i one direction, and means for rendering said rack and gear means ineffective for movement of said platform in the opposite direction.

, ,7. In a machine for cutting pieces of cloth from a continuous strip, a frame, a knife mounted for reciprocal translational movement in said frame in a direction corresponding to the longitudinal extent of said strip, said knife having a shape corresponding to that of the pieces to be cut, a pressure roller movably mounted in said frame opposite 'to said knife with the strip of cloth pass ng between said knife and said roller, an endless conveyor comprising a plurality of belts which are spaced apart and which together provide a composite upper ply adapted to receive r a cut piece, means for driving said conveyor as an incident to cutting movement of said knife, a platform reciprocally mounted in said frame in a position substantially parallel to said knife, a gear mounted on a fixed axis in said frame, a rack secured to said knife and engaging said gear, a second rack secured to said platform and engaging said gear, said racks and gear being effective to cause movement of said platform as an incidentv to movement of said knife, a pair of rollers mounted in spaced relation on said platform, a second conveyor carried by said rollers and. comprising a plurality of spaced belts that are interposed between the belts of said first conveyor, the belts of said second conveyorproviding a composite upper ply that receives pieces from said first conveyor, rack and gear means for causing travel of said second conveyor over said rollers upon movement of said platform in one direction, and means for rendering said rack and gear means ineffective for movement of said platform in the opposite direction.

8. In a machine for cutting pieces of cloth from a continuous strip, a frame, a knife mounted for reciprocal translational movement in said frame 

